Pentagon chief: Time in Afghanistan short
July 19, 2009
After eight years, US-led forces must show progress in Afghanistan by next year to avoid perceptions that the conflict has become unwinnable, the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, has said in a sharp critique of the war effort.
Property developers make a big profit in Afghanistan
April 6, 2009
The global financial crisis has created an unlikely property boom in Kabul, where four-bedroom houses now cost up to $500,000.
As prices across the world collapse, parts of the Afghan capital, Kabul has seen values rise by 75 per cent in the past year, according to estate agents.
A plummeting Dubai property market has forced the wealthy Afghan elite to pull their investments out of the Gulf and plough the money back into Kabul.
Prices have been further buoyed by demand for city center property and land from aid agencies, international contractors and new embassies. Because the economy is largely reliant on aid or donations and the tiny formal banking system is reluctant to lend, Afghanistan has so far been largely untouched by the credit crisis and ensuing downturn, according to ministers and business leaders.
Those Afghans who have amassed large sums from reconstruction contracts, corruption or the opium trade have invested in Dubai’s booming markets in the past five years. But Dubai property is estimated to have fallen 25 per cent in value since its September peak and billions of dollars of development there is on hold or canceled.
“Most Afghans who have invested in Dubai are now turning their faith back to Kabul,” said Torialai Bahadery, director of Property Consulting Afghanistan.
“We have been hearing that people are losing millions of dollars in Dubai.”
“In addition there’s very easy money for selected people. They make good money out of contracts and they prefer to invest it here rather than Dubai.”
“Drug dealers want to make their money clean by investing in property. It used to be when they had money they had ways of taking it out, but because of the global crisis, they don’t want to take it out.”
Obama at war: 17,000 more troops sent in
February 18, 2009
In his first major military move, US President Barack Obama has approved the deployment of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, saying they were needed “to stabilise a deteriorating situation”.
“There is no more solemn duty as president than the decision to deploy our armed forces into harm’s way,” Obama said in a statement.
Help for Gaza and CIA Torture Outlawed
January 23, 2009
On his third day in office, President Barack Obama has focused on the Middle East, calling on Israel to open its borders with Gaza to allow humanitarian aid and commerce.
And he has appointed one of America’s most talented negotiators to broker lasting peace in the troubled region.
Mr Obama also announced plans to close the contentious detention centre at Guantanamo Bay within 12 months and to ban “enhanced interrogation” used by the CIA in the past, branding it torture and contrary to American values.
Bush: ‘There are some things I would do differently’
January 16, 2009
Keeping Americans safe from further terrorist attacks on home soil was the greatest achievement of his presidency, the 43rd President of the US, George Bush, told the nation as he bade farewell in a final address at the White House.
In his 13-minute speech – in which he spoke robustly for his national security record and barely touched on the two wars he leaves behind – he was forceful in defending his Administration, humble about leading the nation, and gracious to his successor, Barack Obama, who will be sworn in on Tuesday.
America didn’t jump off the cliff – it was Bushed
January 5, 2009
We like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians. So here, too, George Bush has let us down. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat. He is smaller than life.
Dick Cheney not sure if Osama bin Laden is still alive
December 22, 2008
US vice-president Dick Cheney says he doesn’t know if the al-Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden is still alive – but thinks he is.
Asked if the elusive bin Laden was alive, Cheney said in an interview on Sunday: “I don’t know and I’m guessing he is.”
Rumsfeld responsible for abuse: report
December 11, 2008
Former US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top administration officials are responsible for abuse of detainees in US custody, a bipartisan Senate report says.
“Rumsfeld’s authorisation of aggressive interrogation techniques for use at Guantanamo Bay was a direct cause of detainee abuse there” and “influenced and contributed to the use of abusive techniques … in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the report released on Thursday concluded.
Hillary’s Baptism of Fire
December 5, 2008
Approaching the November 4 US presidential election, Joe Biden confided that America’s enemies would quickly test an elected Barack Obama.
“Mark my words,”
Obama’s running mate warned all too presciently,
“it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy.”
“Watch. We’re going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”
Al-Qaeda number two ridicules Obama
November 22, 2008
Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri ridiculed US president-elect Barack Obama as a “house negro” and warned him against sending more troops to Afghanistan, in an internet audio message released on Wednesday.
Zawahiri insulted Obama and other black Americans who have held high office in the US administration with the term used by the late Muslim black militant leader Malcolm X for slaves serving their white masters.
